THE hard is what makes it great and open water rookie Tayla Martin wouldn’t have it any other way.

Martin is by her own admission a late bloomer and at the age of 26 will officially become an Australian Dolphin when she dives into the waters off Sentosa Island for the women’s 5km ocean swim at the 2025 World Swimming Championships in Singapore.

Her quest to wear the gold cap has taken her from her home ocean – the Pacific – to the South China Sea, the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Ocean and finally to the Red Sea where in the crystal blue waters of Somabay, Egypt earlier this year she finally achieved her dream by cementing a spot to represent her country internationally.

“I feel like it’s been such a long journey – I went to my first national championships as a 14-year-old, it was for pool swimming – and you train so hard for so long that when I finally broke through it just felt surreal, it was definitely a pinch me moment,” she said.

“As an age swimmer I wasn’t really great, I was a breaststroker, but when I started ocean swimming, I just kept ticking off goals so I kept at it. It’s a juggle … swimming is a fulltime job and it only allows me to have a part-time job in a sport store … I’ve had moments of ‘do I go and get a degree and get a real job?’.

“But at the end of the day, I wanted to be a Dolphin. And I am so very grateful I kept at it.”

Not bad for a kid from the western suburbs who hated her first “ocean” swim at the Regatta Centre in Sydney and cried the whole way.

Martin will also swim the 3km knockout sprint series: a round robin event where all swimmers race 1500m with the top 10 from each heat advancing to the next round to race 1000m in two heats, before the final 10 advance to race 500m. The winner at the end of the last 500m will be awarded the gold medal.

“For me, I swim better when I am relaxed. I want to soak in the moment, keep an open mind and swim what is in front of me. That’s what I love about ocean swimming, anything can happen,” she said.

Interestingly, Martin – and Olympic pool sprinter Olivia Wunsch who is also competing at Singapore Worlds – are coached by the same coach in Carlile’s Nesbit.

“Chris (Nesbit) is the best swimming move I have ever made. He has coached multiple athletes to the Olympics, Liv (Wunsch) and even Cam McEvoy back in the day – he changed everything from my stroke to my general outlook in and out of the water,” she said.

“The pool is where I learn about pacing, and then ocean training is about tactics, tides, currents, changing course and weaving around people and sighting buoys from up to a kilometre away. It’s a tough sport but we train for it.

“My week consists of 11 two-hour sessions in the water, three sessions in the gym, two sessions of spin bikes, I do my recovery, ice baths, saunas, all the extras I can get in. I probably swim about 70-80kms a week.”

And in the 30+ degree waters of Sentosa, Martin said she will also be calling upon her “super power”.

“I’ve had alopecia since I was 10 months, my mother has it as well. It’s an autoimmune disease that kills the hair follicles but it also means I can regulate heat better than those with hair. You will see some of the boys (like Dolphins teammate Kyle Lee) have gone short as well to better deal with the heat,” she said.

“And as soon as we dive in (we have to start with a cap on) I will be ripping mine off … you could call it my super power … and having had alopecia since I was a kid has also allowed me to really embrace being different. Everyone is unique in their own way.”